Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report which provided an update in relation to the Review of Public Administration:

 

1.0       “Relevant Background Information

 

1.1       The Review of Public Administration concluded on 13th March 2008 when the then Minister, Arlene Foster MLA announced the final recommendations with regard to local government reform in Northern Ireland. In her speech, the Minister stated that the current 26 District Councils would be reduced to 11 and a range of additional functions would transfer to Councils.

 

2.0       Key Issues

 

2.1       Members will accept that the RPA is rapidly approaching a critical stage in its implementation whereby consideration is being given to the exact nature of the functions (and the resources that support them) which will be transferred from central to local government.    There are a number of issues which Members should be made aware of in terms of the RPA process moving forward.

 

2.2       Critical Path

 

2.2.1    It is important to recognise that the key driver for the RPA process over the next 6 months will be the need to meet the legislative timetable.  The critical path works back from the Local Government Bill which will give affect to the new local government structures.  The key milestones in the RPA process are outlined below:

 

·         Boundaries Commissioner appointed   - July 2008

 

·         Instructions to legislative Counsel – August 2008

 

·         Report of Boundaries Commissioner -  June 2009

 

·         Local Government Miscellaneous Bill – Mid 2009

 

·         Establishment of Statutory Transitional Committees

 

·         Report of District Electoral Area Commissioner -  July 2010

 

·         Local Government Legislative Bill in place - January 2011

 

·         Local Government Elections -  May 2011

 

2.3       Delivery Structures – SLB and Policy Development Panels

 

2.3.1    In terms of delivery structures, the Department of Environment has established a two-tier model consisting of a Strategic Leadership Board and three Policy Development Panels (PDP’s).  The Strategic Leadership Board should fulfil the role of Council by providing overall direction to the process and the Policy Development Panels should fulfil the role of Council Committees.

 

2.3.2    Each of the PDPs has met at least once and they have started to identify the key areas of work which need to be taken forward.  The scope of the issues to be addressed by each of the three PDPs is extensive.  Furthermore, many of the issues are cross-cutting and impact upon each other.

 

2.3.4    The current membership of the PDPs and the officer support is allocated from both local government generally and Belfast City Council specifically.

 

2.3.5    A series of task and finish officer working groups will be established to drive forward key strands of work attached to each PDP and the Council has put forward officer nominations for these working groups.

 

2.4       Developing a Change Programme for Local  Government Reform

 

2.4.1    There are a number of strands of work currently underway which seeks to provide greater clarity on the necessary process for the effective implementation of the RPA including the development of a detailed programme of work, the articulation of appropriate delivery structures and, importantly, how its delivery could be resourced.

 

2.4.2    This section of the report will provide Members will an update on the ongoing work of both PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte with regard to developing papers on the implementation of the RPA and the development of a local government modernisation programme.

 

PriceWaterhouseCoopers: ‘Practical Approach to the Implementation of Successful Change Programme in Local Government’

 

2.4.3

§         PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) had been commissioned by the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) to prepare guidance on a practical approach to managing the RPA change process.

 

§         The key recommendation emerging from the PWC suggests that an evolutionary approach to change should be adopted.  This is outlined as Option 3 in the PWC report.  This approach suggests that the greatest focus and effort should be given to the restructuring/transitional issues associate with the implementation of the RPA.  It also suggests that depending upon the capacity and resources of individual Councils, consideration should be given to the transfer of functions and modernisation prior to 2011 may also include a transfer of functions and modernization prior to 2011.   §         The purpose of this proposal is to ensure that there is no one size fits all solution and those Councils which may have greater capacity (e.g. Belfast) have the ability to agree with Departments’ transitional programmes around the transfer of functions and the potential for taking forward pilot initiatives around key issues such as  community planning.   §         The report indicated that there might be a number of waves involved in the transfer of functions and pilots.  The PWC paper also sets out the programme governance framework and the resources necessary to support the implementation of the RPA.   §         Members will note that the PWC paper separates policy formulation and delivery.  Policy formulation is to be primarily carried out by the Policy Development Panels but with implementation and delivery being the responsibility of Council Transition Management Teams of officers supported by a Regional Implementation Group (RIG).  It is proposed that RIG be chaired by Paul Simpson, the Deputy Secretary of the DOE, and would include senior officials from Departments who are transferring functions, the 3 local government Chief Executive advisers to RPA Strategic Leadership Board, and a number of other key officials as required from the Local Government Staff Commission, NILGA etc.   §         The purpose of RIG is to commission detailed pieces of work and provide detailed guidance to the Transition Management Teams and the RPA Strategic Leadership Board.

 

§         PWC had estimated that 42 people would initially be required (full-time) to support the Transition Management Teams and Regional Implementation Group with an estimated cost between £4-£8m.  At this stage, there is no clarity given as to how this resource would be sourced and financed.

 

Deloitte’ ‘Strategic Outline Business Case for Local Government Modernisation’

 

2.4.4

§         Deloitte had been commissioned by the DoE to prepare an outline business case for a Local Government Modernisation Programme and examine the projected costs for its implementation which has been estimated to be in the region of £54million.  Total monetary benefits are estimated to be £15million per annum, once steady state has been achieved.   §         Deloitte has been commissioned also by the Department to develop a further Strategic Outline Case for re?configuration work in Councils which is to be submitted to the Department of Finance & Personnel for the September monitoring round.

 

2.5       ‘Statement of Principles’ to underpin the transfer of functions

 

2.5.1    It is proposed that the ‘Statement of Principles' developed by NILGA, and supported by officials from Belfast City Council, should underpin the transfer of functions from central to local government.

 

2.6       Appointment of Local Government Boundary Commissioner

 

2.6.1    On 1st July, 2008 the Minister of Environment, Sammy Wilson MP, MLA appointed Dick McKenzie as the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner for Northern Ireland with responsibility for making recommendations on the designation of boundaries and names of the eleven new district Councils and the number, boundaries and names of their constituent wards.

 

2.6.2    The provisional recommendations will be released in September and a series of public hearing will be scheduled in each of the 11 district areas to enable people to comment on the proposals. It is anticipated that the final recommendations report will be released by 30th June 2009.

 

2.7       Transitional Arrangements

 

2.7.1    A letter has been issued to all Councils from the Minister of the Environment, dated 15th June, requesting that Councils begin to co-operate on local convergence issues.  A Transition Working Group has been established and is currently scoping the work to be carried out by the Transition Committees and examining their interface with other implementation structures.  Further guidance will be issued in due course.

 

2.8       Severance

 

2.8.1    The National Association of Councillors met recently with the Minister of Environment to lobby for a severance package for councillors to be made available from May 2009.  The Minister had agreed to consider this issue and has asked officials to examine the possibility of including the power to make a severance scheme in the Local Government (Contracts) Bill rather than the Local Government (Finance) Bill.  This would allow for a severance scheme to be fast?tracked.

 

2.8.2    It is anticipated that consultation on a possible severance scheme would commence before the end of the year.

 

3.0       Resource Implications

 

Whilst there is clearly substantial Human Resource and financial implications attached the Council’s ongoing involvement and management of the RPA change process, it will be difficult to quantify until a detailed programme of work is put in place.

 

4.0       Recommendations

 

Members are asked to note the contents of this report”

 

            The Chief Executive advised the Members that the Boundaries Commissioner had, the previous day, issued a press release regarding the provisional recommendations for the names and number of wards in each of the new eleven Local Government Districts.  It was proposed that within the new Belfast Local Government District there should be 60 wards.  The Commissioner had recommended that the boundary of the Belfast Local Government District should reflect its setting as encompassed by the surrounding hills, a number of natural features and some major roads.  He had proposed that the localities of Gilnahirk, Tullycarnett, Braniel, Castlereagh, Merok, Cregagh, Wynchurch, Glencregagh and Belvoir, which were part of the existing Castlereagh Borough Council area, should be incorporated into the Belfast District; and that the localities of Colin Glen, Poleglass, Lagmore, Twinbrook, Kilwee, Dunmurry, which were part of the existing Lisburn City area, should be incorporated also, as well as a small number of houses, currently within the North Down Borough Council area, at Knocknagoney.

 

            The Chief Executive pointed out that the existing electorate in the Belfast area was 158,000.  Under the proposals that would increase by 32,000, making a total electorate of 190,000 and bringing the population of the City up to 318,000.  Of the additional 32,000 electors, 14,000 would be transferred from existing localities situated within the current boundaries of Lisburn City Council and 18,000 electors would be transferred from within boundaries of the existing Castlereagh Borough Council. 

 

            Written comments on the provisional recommendations could be made to the Boundaries Commissioner until 12th November, 2008.  Public hearings would then be held from 20th till 28th November, with the hearings for Belfast being held at Malone House on 20th and 21st November between 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m.  Following the public hearings and consideration of written submissions, the Commissioner would determine his final recommendations and submit a written report to the Department of the Environment by the end of June, 2009.  The Department would then lay the report before the Assembly, together with a draft Order in Council giving effect to the recommendations with or without modifications.  If modifications were proposed, the Department would be required to lay a statement of reasons for them at the same time.  The draft Order would be debated by the Assembly and if approved would then be made and be effective from the date of the next Local Government Elections.

 

            The Chief Executive reminded the Committee that, when the Council had in 2006 considered the previous proposals, the Members had expressed concern that the information received in relation to the proposed changes had not provided sufficient detail for them to be able to determine the individual streets within the City which had been included within particular wards.  Therefore, he had written to the Commissioner requesting that more detailed information be provided to the Council to enable the Members to determine which streets fell within the proposed new Local Government wards within the new boundaries for the City of Belfast.  He pointed out that copies of the Provisional Recommendations Report were currently being delivered to each Member of the Council and he requested that the Party Groupings consider any issues which they might have before the Committee’s meeting scheduled on 24th October, at which stage a decision could be taken whether to submit a response to the provisional recommendations through the Council or through the Political Parties.

 

Noted.